In Which I Discuss My New Years Resolutions (and why they won't work)

So Christmas is over. It's Boxing Day here in Canada and in the UK but the brunt of the festivities are over and people must prepare to return to their everyday life - if they haven't already.

Here's a scary thought: in less than a week it will be 2013. Some people honestly believed we wouldn't make it this far and some people just laughed at them - but as each year comes to a close people everywhere resolve to make a change in the New Year, goals to improve themselves in some way. And every year, people fail. Not everyone, mind you, but New Year’s Resolutions are infamous for failing.

One of the big reasons is that January is a horrible time for change. It is; in the Northern Hemisphere you're in the dead of winter and your schedule is out of whack. You're coming back from a holiday so your sleeping, eating, working, thinking habits are different and worst of all, you're on an adrenaline high from this big idea that you'll start this change thinking it'll happen overnight.

Habits are best made during a moment of normalcy at a time when your schedule is regular and you can make the time to make the habits.

That said, I think it's very important to take a moment at the end of any cycle (a day, a week, a year) to reflect and create goals about things you would want to accomplish. But there's too much pressure in calling something a resolution - it's too daunting - which is another reason why resolutions fail.

For as long as I can remember I've had the same two goals:

1.      Get healthy

2.      Finish a manuscript

I've never completed either and although this year I've gotten closer to completing a manuscript, my diagnosis of ADHD at the beginning of 2012 has provided me with more excuses than solutions.

This year may be like any other year but this may be the year I succeed where my motivation has failed me so I'm laying out my goals in hopes of achieving something in the coming year.

1.      Get healthy (this entails physical health first and foremost because frankly I'm overweight - I promise not to mention it again)

2.      Finish a manuscript (since I was about eight year’s old, I've been writing stories and dreaming of the day I could walk into a bookstore and see my book on a store shelf. Since then I've written dozens upon dozens of plots and even more half started stories that are doomed to never be written but the closest I've come to finishing is 26K of an NA called 'Daises' and 18K of a YA series called 'Legendary'. I've learned it's a matter of making habits of writing - which is something everyone knows - but it's also a matter of personal habits which are a little harder to understand and accommodate)

I think the internet helps when it comes to reaching long-term goals because it provides the unique opportunity to become incredibly self-absorbed. I like it. Without someone to check in with and talk to, a lot of people and ideas go unchecked.

It's a matter of finding a goal, finding an audience and finding a way to motivate yourself.

So minions, what are your New Year’s Goals?